Recently got really ticked at minecraft. Had really good fortune through the whole game, i ended up building a beach resort house with everything i needed on a tiny island in the middle of the ocean it was awesome. Found diamonds, a ton of iron, got a ton of obsidian, decked out my house even more.

Then i went to the nether. My game glitched out and now my guy is stuck in the nether portal because the game has the nether portal squares as solids. I'm not losing health i'm just stuck... minecraft is an unforgiving place...

I still haven't played minecraft, mostly because in the realm of time wasters it seemed to most time wastiest. The idea of making a giant mario gives me nothing. But this idea of a hardcore mode intrigues me.

I had a collection of 3 maps with waystations at the centers. It was a lot of fun because each one had to be self-sufficient, secure, and easy to locate. Ended up turning them into Island fortresses only accessible by boat with the top being lit by torches so I could grow food and trees.

Also did a similar one to the Claustrophobe, except I allowed him to have a house. Only way I could get deep supplies was to build open air quarries. Never found any diamond and only a small amount of redstone. Still had a blast though.

... I miss Minecraft. I used to play with my sister and we'd build a great house beside an open-air quarry. Not streamlined at all, but we'd dig a massive square out and then start going down and down and down until we got to bedrock, then slowly dig outwards on a couple levels to cover the diamond zone.

Once we found a huge area of stone open to the ground... so big and wide I think the two of us digging all day only cleared a level and a half at a time. It was pretty epic. We had a tower cut into the rock doing down one side of the quarry (and going way up above it) and a minecart line you could take all the way up. I think we even had a lava moat.

I did build a mini village on an MP server once and had a quarry, then just picked a random side of the square at diamond level and dug sideways. And just kept going. Was like 20 blocks wide and 5 high with a rail line running to the front. Was very nice.

Maybe after Torchlight I'll see if I can get my sister back into it and we can do that again.

Fun little article! Kinda neat to see how other people play Minecraft. Me, I just tend to build overelaborate citadels, each one with some lessons learned from the last one. Because a room with a pentagram carpet and an enchanting table in the center is just awesome. With a secret button nearby that opens the path to my main enchanting table with the books around it.

Seems SOMEONE has to give a quick look at the Minecraft-Wiki..."Minecraft Man", "Nether Minerals"? They got official names, in case of latter, you even get a damn info when you hover your mouse over it.Otherwise, that's more or less what I do in my normal runs, anyway.1 - Get a map to be 100% exploredGot like three of those maps right now plus one for the Nether, all more or less discovered. That whole also soon gets various difficulties with the explore-part as 1.4 going to offer the ability to enlarge the area a map covers.2 - Use the Nether to explore further areasWell, not just that, but I build a damn railroad system in there, with trainstations and everything! Currently, it is quite linear, but I probably make it more ring-shaped or something like that further down the road.(You should try it yourself - requires quite a lot of iron and gold to even build and then also having to make sure that no Ghast blows up your track... not THAT easy.)

I also set (and reached) myself the goal of:* Building a tower out of Stone Brick with a size of 8x8 on the outside and a platform on the top. Size? Maxed out, 256 meters. Includes stairs and a wooded construction in the construction in the middle in a 4x4-ring-shape with a 2x2-waterfall all the way from top to bottom of the tower.* Expand the tower to a full, small castle with a walkable, 4 blocks thick wall (walkable in the INSIDE and ON TOP)* Have the castle feature a distractable bridge which only a player can open - from either side with switches.* Find a village, expand it, wall it off

And currently, I decided I want to build an outpost in the village, hidden in their well (where my exit of the Nether-Railroads are hidden, btw). Also prepared myself for the upcoming update to 1.4 by having a cage for the Wither in the cellar of my base.

I still haven't gotten into Minecraft. I'm just not good at builder games. There's this weird thing in my brain where there's a huge disconnect between what I can imagine, and how I can make it real. It's really frustrating actually.It's a shame, because I'd love to actually build some of the stuff I've written in my stories. Like a scale replica of Wall City, complete with the hidden tunnels accessed through the sewer system used by the thieves' guild and the old city that the current city was built on top of (like the one in Seattle). It would be awesome.

And while I'm dreaming, I would make a video in which I use my massive fortunes to hire up Bruce Boxlietner to voice the smuggler/crime boss Darren Leingod to do a guided tour.

I find that typically once one manages to reliably gain access to food, water, a ghillie suit, and top tier weaponry in DayZ (a pair of night vision goggles also helps), the end game usually devolves into banditry. Some players form or join a group and choose a server to set up a base camp complete with tents, fortifications, and vehicles, others go at it solo. I've also seen a few bandit groups dedicated to hunting down other bandits frontier justice style, as well as one that specialized in delivering and administering medical supplies to players in need. I actually wouldn't mind joining a group that participates in hunts straight out of The Most Dangerous Game, where we strip a "participant" down to basic survival gear (i.e. an axe, a hunting knife, starter clothes, a basic handgun with 1-2 clips, and some rations) and set them loose with a half hour head start before hunting them down in jeeps and helicopters.

As for the Minecraft discussion... well, I don't own or play Minecraft so I can't really comment on that.

I like your agoraphobe/claustrophobe idea. Haven't tried that one. I have done the others, though. Got lucky enough that my portal to the nether opened up right near a fortress, once, and I set up shop in there, after quickly liberating it from some local pests. Laughed like crazy that your portal dumped you over death. That's just a riot.

RJ Dalton:I still haven't gotten into Minecraft. I'm just not good at builder games. There's this weird thing in my brain where there's a huge disconnect between what I can imagine, and how I can make it real. It's really frustrating actually.It's a shame, because I'd love to actually build some of the stuff I've written in my stories. Like a scale replica of Wall City, complete with the hidden tunnels accessed through the sewer system used by the thieves' guild and the old city that the current city was built on top of (like the one in Seattle). It would be awesome.

And while I'm dreaming, I would make a video in which I use my massive fortunes to hire up Bruce Boxlietner to voice the smuggler/crime boss Darren Leingod to do a guided tour.

The wonderful thing about Minecraft is you don't need to be able to build replica structures in order to have fun.

His points on DayZ got me thinking; the game does need goals, but player-driven ones.

Having set blue/red friendly 'safezones' would tamper with the current setup of every point of interest having the smallest margin of population. The game is really about whether you have someone near you, or not, and whether they can be trusted (and with the way things currently are, 80% of players are pirate-wannabees). Though, that also is what creates the huge amount of reds in the first place, if you ask me. Blues don't organize... as much.

I think a great system would be an "announcement" relay from broken radio towers that require parts to fix, and sends a map-wide message that will allow anyone to see the past 24 real-time hours worth. It would allow players to both organize and plot against others via ruse. They could declare "this area blue friendly" and have many people meet there with an idea that it's either real, or a trap, but interest is garnered - and thusly a goal is set.

Eventually, if it works as intended, people could start setting up actual safezones where people take turns guarding it and going out for resources to stockpile (as well as holding off asshole reds). Goals could be "stockpile barbed wire for perimeter", "more guards needed", etc. The only problem with a player-made safezone is constant harassment by those damnable reds, because now they have a neverending goal of ruining everyone else's happy fun time. Though, perhaps that gives a little more incentive to actually post around playing guard. It likely won't be as boring a position as it sounds, and continual defense of these areas assures a steady stockpile and safe drop-off of goods for those intending to show a bit of face in defending it. Could be interesting.

I've got a point to make about Yahtzee's Mr. Navigator! run on 360. Since it's a self-imposed challenge, you have every right to just toss the map you've been given and set out normally. It still costs redstone, iron, and bamboo sugarcane to make another one.

Of course, the 360 version still doesn't have true Hardcore mode, just the standard "Hard" difficulty, so point rescinded I guess.

Wouldn't fishing be a better option for underground sustenance? You need some sticks from above and you're set. Water and web are easy to find underground. You need to make an underground tree farm, anyway. Torches can cost a lot of wood over time.

Those are some neat ideas. I prefer to play my own mode, which was just-now titled Conservationist.

Basically, you play a Navigator session, but you can't kill. Not animals (unless you breed them, but you have to leave some in the wild), not mobs, not nothing. Instead, you have to create wildlife preserves for the creatures to live in peace. It's a fun challenge to get a conga-line of Creepers chasing you, luring them into a habitat you've constructed and hoping you can seal the door and escape up a ladder before they blow it to pieces.

Eventually, once everything's mapped out, I take it upon myself to create full enclosures with toys, running water and viewing platforms for my imaginary guests.

Mega_Manic:I still haven't played minecraft, mostly because in the realm of time wasters it seemed to most time wastiest. The idea of making a giant mario gives me nothing. But this idea of a hardcore mode intrigues me.

I mean what's fun without a fail state?

Minecraft has the biggest fail state of any game I've ever played. Most games you fall into lava you just die and get resurrected back outside the lava. In minecraft you fall into lava and you lose you diamond axe, armor, and everything else in your pockets. Then you cry in a corner for 30 minutes murmuring to yourself about how unfair life is.

Or your gigantic wooden tree palace you've spent an eternity constructing catches on fire and burns to the ground.Which causes you to stop playing for 8 months and/or kill yourself.

When I have time to get back to minecraft, I might try some of these, or make up my own challenges. I think I'll try a "Post apocalypse" hardcore run sometime. Basically, I'm not allowed to be out in the sun (radiation) and can only move at night. I must also move every night if possible.

Although I STILL have to finish my Super Hostile: Lethamyr game. My victory monument is about a third done, and now that I have potions and my enchanting table set up, I should be able to handle most of the traps that the map-maker set up...(super hostile is a map series where you need to fill up a monument with wool block gathered from dungeons that the map maker, Vechs has created. As the name says, it's a hard series.)

I like hardcore, but that's because I wanted to try out new seeds more often rather than charge back into the same area trying to find my stuff when I die over and over and over again. It can be a bit tough when I've had a lot of fun with particular seeds, but it's just pixels, and you never know what a new seed will be like. Especially if you horse around with whatever phrase interests you at the time as a worldgen seed.

I've also had one of those seeds where I step through and all that's stopping me from a lava bath is four additional blocks of obsidian. I managed on the second time, however, to build a little fort around it before being discovered by ghasts. I've never done anything with it since, but I did intend to build a stone bridge to the mainland.

The thing I found about hardcore is that I learned to avoid making the same mistakes over and over because I'd take that moment to pause and recall how my downfall happened, rather than continually repeat my folly or get too attached to the wealth I accumulated and quit that seed out of frustration.

I'm not a great builder, but I manage to amuse myself enough in Minecraft to keep me busy for hours. I did notice that I actually kept myself busier in the 360 version over the PC version. Not sure why, but perhaps I like the limited space as it serves almost as an end goal where I can physically colonize all available lands lol iedit: prob the same reason my interest in Minecraft doubled when my friend (who hosts our PC server) started a hardcore world. gave us a limited scope (bunker down, don't die) and goal i.e. slowly expand a village into an impenetrable fort. of course once it became indomitable (even grew cacti on top of the walls to keep out spiders) it got boring again :P

speaking of end goals, having a fort in DayZ would indeed be interesting. maybe if it eventually degrades over time (or a set point where it becomes overwhelmed by zombies bursting out of the sewer system below) therefore wouldn't be a perfect bastion forever? :}

Gottesstrafe:I find that typically once one manages to reliably gain access to food, water, a ghillie suit, and top tier weaponry in DayZ (a pair of night vision goggles also helps), the end game usually devolves into banditry. Some players form or join a group and choose a server to set up a base camp complete with tents, fortifications, and vehicles, others go at it solo. I've also seen a few bandit groups dedicated to hunting down other bandits frontier justice style, as well as one that specialized in delivering and administering medical supplies to players in need. I actually wouldn't mind joining a group that participates in hunts straight out of The Most Dangerous Game, where we strip a "participant" down to basic survival gear (i.e. an axe, a hunting knife, starter clothes, a basic handgun with 1-2 clips, and some rations) and set them loose with a half hour head start before hunting them down in jeeps and helicopters.

As for the Minecraft discussion... well, I don't own or play Minecraft so I can't really comment on that.

Regarding DayZ. The devolving is a concern. The game not being $60 with another $40+ of DLC lets me be okay with that for a while. I don't do COD or whatever the other thing is. The only only FPS I have tested is Dust 514 and that is the only reason I powered up the PS3 in four months.

Can you run your own server yet? A private server would make the game functional. My problem is that I will probably be the only one of my group to play it. Then to wander around just to get sniped makes me wonder if even $30 is too much. If I had a four or more friends to play with then that might be okay but the youtubers are all about griefing.

Hmmm, I often do the "fill out the map" thing.... In every game that has a fillable map. Is a compulsion, I-must-unveil-all.

The next release will have zoomable maps, so the Mr.Navigator mode will get more to explore.

Right now I'm playing in what I call "restoration" mode. I go around looking for pre-generated structures, like villages, temples or dungeons, and since they are invariably broken (or half buried in sand) I go ahead and clear and fix them, which involves giving villagers defenses against monsters and their own clumsiness... Or making the dungeon easier for monsters to spawn and roam about (I'm generous like that).

The whole villagers thing fascinates me. I think Minecraft is missing a few more artificial life elements to make it feel more alive. Wouldn't mind villagers eventually building their own fortress and deciding that they want me dead just because I ransack their graveyards in search for materials to build my undead army with... Ah, but one can only dream (or mod it).

Edit: And riding pigs (with the carrot on a stick) is awesome! I no longer hunt them, they are now my noble steeds.

Self-imposed challenges are quite a large part of Minecraft. Things like iron-haters, where you go through as much of the game as you can without using iron in any form, are apparently quite popular. You also get things like Lorgon111's "End of Crafting" series, in which he tries to beat the Enderdragon without ever using a crafting bench.

I've been playing it again myself. The rule I've been imposing on myself is "Age of Empires" logic, in that I must start with building shitty, tent like structures from wood and fences, and gradually upgrade each building as I create better tools and materials: I'm up to the second stage, with my initial home base being upgraded to a shabby, cobble bothy. I'll uprgrade to a small stone fort next. Then a brick built estate. Then I'll see where I go from there.

Mega_Manic:I still haven't played minecraft, mostly because in the realm of time wasters it seemed to most time wastiest. The idea of making a giant mario gives me nothing. But this idea of a hardcore mode intrigues me.

I mean what's fun without a fail state?

I don't know, WoW is probably a bigger time waster in my book. But I am of the same opinion -- I haven't played Minecraft because I'm afraid I'd never play another game again. It's a sort of 'In case of emergency, break glass' scenario for me.